Italian Eating with Brother

Sbarro - SM City Fairview
Lower Ground Floor, Annex 2
Quirino Highway cor. Regalado Avenue, Quezon City
31 January 2009

Author's Note:
I was browsing through my old files and realized I wasn't able to post some food trips in this blog, so for a few days, please allow me to wind of time a bit and share these stories.

Sbarro would always be a food place dear to me. When I was in college, it was one of the food places I cannot afford to eat at, and it served as a motivation to me. For my first paycheck, I treated myself to their food, and whenever I needed some comforting, Sbarro will be the food place that would first pop in my head. Since my first taste of their food in 2004, I have been to about three of their branches within the metro, and on January of 2009, I went to eat at the newest branch - the one in SM City Fairview.

When the mall opened their branch in this mall, I was happy. Back then, I would travel to either SM Megamall or TriNoma Mall just to eat their food, but now, eating there would just take me 10-15 minutes of traveling time. The grass on our side is getting greener. :)

Mom asked brother and I to do the grocery shopping as she cannot leave the house that time, and realizing my brother still hasn't eaten there, I decided for us to have snacks in Sbarro after shopping. It's good that I was able to have a little food trip with my brother.


Facade. Among all the branches I have seen, this has got to be the biggest in terms of its floor area.


Dining Area. People had the choice to eat on single chairs, or they could take the table by the wall with couches. Brother and I decided to take one by the wall so we can have more sitting space, and we'd have bigger table.


Counter. Something I snapped while waiting for my turn at the cashier.

The primary picture on this post already had a picture of what we had, but taking a close-up look:


Spaghetti with Meatball. Whenever I eat at Sbarro, I always find myself eating this particular food - in white sauce. Spaghetti is my most favorite pasta, and I just love their white sauce. This was a whole serving, but I only went for one meatball, because two meatballs might be too much for me.


Baked Ziti. Brother's food. He loves spicy hot foods, so he sprinkled his dish with dried basil leaves, chili flakes, and chili sauce.


Pizza Supreme. I wanted brother to taste their pizza, too, so I went for a slice of the pizza supreme, which we cut in half.

Well, the foods tasted good, no difference with the taste from the other branches, but then if there would be some complaint, it would be:

1. The servings were too small. We had the whole serving of pasta, but then it was like eating the half serving. I didn't know if they were a bit worried about the available foods and it might not be enough for the diners, but then, it was just not enough. Well, considering the prices of the foods were the same in all branches, eating this little certainly didn't give my money's worth.
2. Very few choices of pizza... and that the crust was way too tough, signaling that it has been sitting in the counter for quite sometime or that it was reheated many times. I'd give them a little consideration with this one, not too many people in the area might not be familiar with the food place, and because it was still new, maybe people were still a bit apprehensive. Still, eating tough crusted pizza wasn't a good dining experience.

Since this time, I still haven't eaten there again. Whenever I pass by the store, I always check how they plated the pasta, and it still hasn't changed. I still love Sbarro... but I guess I will just eat at a different branch.

*** Jenn ***